“Number 5”

One of my favorite restaurants is the Monrovian Family Restaurant on Myrtle Ave. in Monrovia. Jane and I would frequent them on weekend mornings for their brunch menu. My favorite item in the breakfast specials was number 5: an egg and hash brown scramble with onions and peppers. I would ask for diced ham to be added, and get a delicious and enormous plate of food.

I actually like my version of the dish better. It's prepared without all the oil they use in restaurant cooking, and substitutes Egg Beaters™ for eggs.

Click any of the thumbnail photos for a 1024x768 size photo.

Ingredients

Makes two servings

Mojo likes his with a little ketchup. Jane likes a dash of hot pepper sauce.

Preparation

Spray a large flat saute pan with cooking spray, and spread the potatoes evenly across the bottom. Heat covered over medium heat for about 8 minutes, or until edges of the potato brown.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil, jalapeno, and onion. Stir occasionally until onion becomes translucent. Add ham, salt, and pepper to taste. Let it cook for a minute, then add diced peppers. (Figure 1.)

Once the bottom of the potatoes has browned, turn them with a spatula in sections and let cook uncovered to brown a little more of the potatoes. The skillet should be about ready. (Figure 2.)

Add the contents of the skillet to the potatoes, and stir occasionally, letting the mixture brown a little more. (Figure 3.)

Stir the egg substitute into the mix. Turn frequently while the egg cooks. (Figure 4.) Serve on two plates.

Figure 1. Potatoes on the left; onions, jalapenos and ham are in the skillet.

Figure 2. After turning the potatoes, peppers added to the skillet.

Figure 3. Everything in the saute pan, ready for the eggs.

Figure 4. Ready to serve to plates!

Tips

This dish takes a lot of prep time, cutting up vegetables and ham, but it's really fun and worth the effort.

It might really be 5 POINTS instead of 6, if there are three grams of fiber in the vegetables. It's certainly a vegetable serving.

I buy a fairly large piece of lean cooked ham from Safeway (actually Pavilion) and cut it into 3 ounce slices. I put each slice in a zipper bag, and toss them all in the freezer. If I'm thinking ahead, I'll take one out the night before making a Number 5 to let it defrost in the refrigerator. Otherwise it defrosts fine in the microwave.

I'd love to hear your comments and variations on this dish, and I'll post some here.

Nutrition information

Approximate values, per serving.

6 POINTS™ per serving